Template for information Gathering or SMTD: SharePoint 2010

I have been working on an assignment and currently running in KAP phase of my assignment. You all know KAP phase is very important and need to run thoroughly with better care because it builds base of operation support.

I always regard “KAP without proper attention is a big GAP”.

As discussed in my last articles Phases of SharePoint Transition Plan: SharePoint 2010 (Knowledge Acquisition Plan) and What does it take to become Transition Manager: SharePoint 2010?, I discussed about the phases of KAP and touched little on SMTD i.e.  System Maintenance Technical Document, I realized that while understanding the clients different environment and having multiple sessions with the SharePoint SMEs, we tend to miss some of the important points to note down regards SharePoint environments.

Below I have collated some points for the reference to capture the most information related to SharePoint environments. It is always important to gather below information.

Ø Version of O.S

Ø Versions of SharePoint Server

Ø Versions of SQL Server O.S and SQL

Ø SharePoint Server Setup Architecture (With Diagram)

o   No Of App Server:

o   No of Web Servers:

o   No of Index and Query Servers:

o   CA is hosted on:

o   SQL Servers:

Ø Which Servers holding index and query server roles

Ø No, Dev, Staging, Pre-Production and Production environments.

Ø Load Balancer info.

Ø Excel Cal. Service, InfoPath Services etc.

Ø Outgoing and Incoming Email services

Ø Special Service Accounts information and rights

Ø Back-up and Restore Policy (If any third Party S/W is used)

Ø Site Creation, Administration Change, Site Deletion Process

Ø DR Process and Policies

Ø SQL Server set-up for the DR Process (DB Mirroring)

o   DB Structure

o   Content DBs

o   Search Config

o   Search Content

Ø Any Scheduled jobs running of the SharePoint Servers and Warm scripts

Ø Health Check Process and Monitoring of the services

Ø How the change and Problem management process

Ø Any current issues for SharePoint or on O.S Side.

Ø SharePoint and O.S Patching Process

Ø Service Applications List.

Ø Web Application List

Ø Maintenance Window

Ø BI features i.e. BDC and BCS.

Ø SQL Reporting and other reporting tool used.

Ø Any other reporting done.

Ø Any other additional Information

To gather information on Search:

Ø Search usage – for Content search or itemized search features (like directory)

Ø How many users perform the queries per day?

Ø List of search pages.

Ø Does users use Advance search and if any customizations.

Ø How many content sources and their names. How many totals are in use?

o   Content Sources:

1.     How many items we have per content source.

2.     Schedule of the incremental and full crawls of the content sources.

Ø Search Infrastructure:

o   No. of Query Server:

o   No. of Index server:

o   Index size in GB:

o   No. of total items indexed:

o   Search Database size:

Ø Reports:

o   Daily search hits:

o   If OOB 30 days reports:

o   Most used Keywords:

Ø Best Bets:

o   No of best bets already in place, including the best bets from all the content sources.

Ø Additional Notes:

o   If any

Ø Current Issue:

o   If any

I hope this piece of information is helpful and useful.

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know. I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issues, Thank you.

Applies to:

·        SharePoint 2010,

·        SharePoint 2013. 

The specified file is not a valid spreadsheet or contains no data to import - SharePoint 2010

Desktop attributes:

OS: Windows 7 64-bit

SP version: SharePoint server 2010

IE version: IE 8.0, 64-bit

Office version: Office 2010, 32-bit.

Amazing string of problems let me explain one by one!

Problem description#1:-

I need to import the spreadsheet on my SharePoint site so I opened my SP site - site actions – more options – clicked on ‘Import spreadsheet’ option. As soon as I clicked on it, it throws the following exception.

Error message: -

This feature requires Microsoft internet explorer version 5.0 or later, and windows 95 or later.

The above error message is somewhat misleading with respect to the above mentioned desktop attributes. If I am already using IE8 then how this error message is showing ‘use IE 5 or later’ also OS is also windows 7 which is far more advanced than windows 95—strange huh…

But then I realized that as per MS recommendations, most of the features are not compatible with 64-bit IE so the IE version is the main culprit.

In this situation, obviously anybody will think / take the decision of IE uninstallation but let me tell you guys- you don’t have to take such drastic step.

What you have to do-

1)   Start

2)   All programs

3)   In that list, you will see two internet explorers, one will show you 64-bit and other one without any version

4)   The one which is showing without any version, that will be your 32-bit IE

5)   You have to open your SharePoint site in that version i.e. 32-bit IE

6)   Please refer the following screenshot for more details.

7)   As soon as you will open your SP site in this version, then the issue will be resolved.

Ok, so far so good! - Lets switch to next problem now-

I clicked on Import spreadsheet, given the list name and selected the file that I wanted to import and clicked on import.

As soon as I hit import then got the following error message:

The specified file is not a valid spreadsheet or contains no data to import

Resolution:-

1)   Close all the internet explorers

2)   Open a new IE

3)   Tools

4)   Internet options

5)   Security

6)   From the several zones, select Trusted sites

7)   Sites button will be highlighted- click on it- add your SP site URL

8)   Click on close button and then Click OK

Note:-

1)   Make sure the protected mode should be disabled and

2)   Reduce the security (range is between- High, Medium and Low), it should not be high.

That’s it; try to import the spreadsheet now and it will work like a charm.

Happy SharePoint to all of you

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know. I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issues, Thank you.

connect to office disabled in sharepoint 2010

Connect to office is a very vital feature if you are working with lots of libraries and lists. One of our users reported an issue that he is not able to use the ‘connect to office’ drop down menu.

Desktop entities:-

Windows 7 OS

IE 9 32-bit

Office 2010 32-bit

SharePoint Server 2010

Problem description was not clear so further probing, we came to know this option is disable/greyed out. Strange! No ideas as I have never used this functionality before the issue actually reported to my team.

I started my research by learning the default functionality:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-in/sharepoint-foundation-help/connect-to-office-HA102080653.aspx

Issue description:-

Connect to office disabled / Connect to office disabled is greyed out.

Error message:-

Connect to office, this control is disabled.

Note:-

Before you start troubleshooting on this issue, make sure that you have enough set of permission to perform this activity.

Troubleshooting done:-

1)   Cross-checked the office version is 32-bit or not. It should be 32 bit only and not a 64-bit.

2)   Cross-checked the IE version is 32-bit or not. It should be 32 bit only and not a 64-bit.

3)   Tried opening the SharePoint site in Mozilla Firefox as well as Google chrome but same results i.e. option is disabled.

4)   Repaired the office version but that didn’t resulted any success.

5)   Tried enabled-disabling add-ons in internet explorer but no success

6)   Tried adding the SharePoint site in trusted location by means of IE but still no results.

7)   Checked on different desktops who were using IE 7, 32-bit as well as Office 2013, 32 bit but no results

Resolution:-

After the exhaustive troubleshooting for hours then I got the following article and I wanted to convey my Million Thanks to Mr. Brian for sharing this valuable information with all of us: http://mywinsysadm.wordpress.com/2011/07/28/sharepoint-connect-to-office-for-new-document-creation

As per this article- MySites must be configured with the Use Personal Features permission turned on.  You can enable this by going into the Central Administration Console, click on Manage Service Applications, click the link for the User Profile Service Application, and select Manage User Permissions.

That’s it. I got the direction, followed as per the mentioned instructions and the issue has been comes to an end. Happy SharePoint!

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know. I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issues, Thank you.

sync to sharepoint workspace greyed out - SharePoint 2010

A SharePoint workspace is automatically synchronized with the SharePoint site as follows:

    
            -All updates you make in a SharePoint workspace are immediately sent to the SharePoint site when you save them.

    
    -All content in the SharePoint workspace and the SharePoint site is automatically synchronized as frequently as possible, at minimum every 10 minutes, depending on network traffic.

Desktop attributes:-

Windows 7 OS

Internet explorer (IE) 9.0

SharePoint 2010

Office 2010 – make sure this is office professional plus

Issue description:-

Sync to SharePoint Workspace is disabled.

Error message:-

This control is currently disabled.

How exactly it works? – Best article to understand the functionality

http://office.microsoft.com/en-in/sharepoint-foundation-help/synchronize-sharepoint-content-with-sharepoint-workspace-HA101854201.aspx

1)   Tried opening the site with Mozilla Firefox as well as Google chrome but still same results i.e. Sync to SharePoint Workspace option is greyed out/disabled.

2)   Installed Microsoft SharePoint workspace 2010 on the desktop and then tried to open the site again to check the results but still the option is disable.

Resolution:-

1)   Open the document library in which you are facing the problem.

2)   From the top Ribbon-Library Tools

3)   Click on Library

4)   Library Settings

5)   General Settings-Advanced Settings

6)   Go to section- Offline Client Availability

7)   Option- Allow items from this document library to be downloaded to offline clients?

8)   By default this option is set to NO

9)   Switch it to Yes- Please refer the following screenshot for more details

 That’s it- Click OK.

Go back to the document library to check the results. You should be able to see that option in enable mode.

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned

information then please let me know. I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issues, Thank you.

Product applies to:

1)   SharePoint Server 2010

2)   SharePoint Foundation 2010

Reference:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-in/sharepoint-foundation-help/synchronize-sharepoint-content-with-sharepoint-workspace-HA101854201.aspx

To export a list, you must have a Microsoft SharePoint Foundation-compatible application - SharePoint 2010 + SharePoint 2013

The export to Excel button is available but when I select the following error appears:
 
Error message: To export a list, you must have a Microsoft SharePoint Foundation-compatible application

 
Let me tell you guys that this section is very widespread and can be happen because of so many reasons. I don’t want to restrict this thread with only one solution as while debugging on this issue, I have explored so many options and would like to share all the options with you so that you can take a benefit of this and issue can be resolved in easy as well as proficient manner.

I am going to elaborate this information in step by step manner so in case of any queries/questions regarding any step then please let me know. I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issues, Thank you.

Multiple Resolutions:

1)   Make sure the Office client should be installed on the machine.

2)   Make sure the web client service in started mode, How to check this: On your machine- Start-Run-services.msc-start the webclient service.

3)   Make sure the IE (Internet Explorer) Version should be 32-bit and not a 64-bit. How to check this: http://www.tracker-software.com/knowledgebase/280-How-do-I-tell-if-I-am-using-a-32-bit-or-64-bit-version-of-IE    

4)   Make sure the client integration is Enabled in Central Administration

How to check this: Central Administration-Manage web applications-Ribbon-Authentication Providers-Client Integration check box.

5)   Make sure the STSSYNC add-on should be enabled in IE. How to check this: Open IE-Tools-Manage Add-Ons-Look for the STSSYNC add-on and enable it.

6)   Make sure this option “Enable additional actions and Online Status for members” in Central Administration is set to Yes. How to check this: Open the Central Administration page-Click on Manage web applications-Select the web application you would like to configure-From the ribbon select General Settings-In the section titled Person Name Actions and Presence Settings change the setting Enable additional actions and Online Status for members to Yes-Click OK to apply changes.

7)   Make sure the ActiveX Control is enabled in Internet Explorer. How to check this- Open IE-Tools-Manage Add-Ons-Look for the STSUpld UploadCtl Class add-on and enable it.

8)   Make sure the Internet Explorer settings should not be too high. How to check this: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-in/windows-vista/change-internet-explorer-security-settings

9)   Make sure the protected mode should not be enabled in Internet Explorer. How to check this: Open internet explorer- Click on Tools menu and select Internet Options- Select Security Tab in the Internet options windows- Select Internet from the zone settings- Uncheck Enable Protected Mode option to disable the protection from Security for this zone- Hit Apply and Ok.

10)               Make sure the SharePoint site should be added inside trusted sites zone. How to do this: http://sharepointknowledgebase.blogspot.in/2010/07/site-prompts-for-credentials.html

Thank you once again!

I would like to request you if you have any different resolution apart from the above mentioned then please share here so that it would be beneficial for others as well.

Happy SharePoint to all of U...

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know. I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issues, Thank you.